Products of Metabolism of Caffeine

Abstract

The isolation of caffeine from green coffee beans was described in Germany in 1820 by Runge and confirmed the same year by von Giese. In France, Robiquet in 1823 and then Pelletier in 1826 independently discovered a white and volatile crystalline substance. The name “cofeina” appeared in 1823 in the “Dictionnaire des termes de médecine” and the word “caffein” or “Coffein” was used by Fechner in 1826. The same year, Martius discovered a substance which he called “guaranin”, and 1 year later a substance found in tea was named “thein” by Oudry. It was only in 1838 (Mulder; Jobst) and in 1840 (Martius; Berthemot and Dechastelus) that thein and guaranin respectively were shown to be identical with caffeine. In 1843 caffeine was found in maté prepared from Ilex paraguayensis (Stenhouse), and in 1865 in kola nuts (Daniell).

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